A recent report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services shows that the Religious Right's much-vaunted abstinence-until-marriage education does not change teens' sexual behavior.

According to a study conducted by Mathmatica Policy Research, Inc., participants in abstinence-until-marriage programs were no more likely to abstain from sexual activity until marriage than their peers who received comprehensive sex education. They weren't even more likely to wait longer before having sex outside of wedlock. Indeed, significantly fewer abstinence-only students even planned on abstaining from sexual activity until marriage.

The study is part of required oversight for the federal government's funding of abstinence-until-marriage programs often offered in public schools. Since 1998, the federal government has allocated $50 million annually to fund over 700 abstinence-until-marriage programs nationwide. States that receive federal funds are expected to match 75 percent of each grant, bringing the grand taxpayer paid total to $787.5 million over eight years.

Programs must have as their "exclusive purpose" to teach the "social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity." While this language sounds benign, it masks the fact that abstinence-until-marriage programs are outgrowths of conservative religious views on sex and morality. The Religious Right, believing that comprehensive sex education does nothing but "teach teenagers (and sometimes children) how to enjoy fornication without having a baby and without feeling guilty," has promoted abstinence-only education in public schools for decades.

These programs deny young adults the knowledge and tools they need to make responsible decisions. According to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, "programs that receive...funding are prohibited from discussing methods of contraception, including condoms, except in the context of failure rates."

Researchers followed up with 2,057 young adults who received sex education in their late elementary and middle school years. Students, averaging 16.5 years of age, were asked about their sexual behavior four to six years after completing the classes.

The study showed that about half, 49 percent, of students in both groups were still abstinent. Abstinence-only education also appears not to affect promiscuity among those who do have sex because percentages of students who had one, two, three or four or more sexual partners were statistically equal in both groups.

Abstinence-only education didn't even deter students from waiting longer to have sex. The average age this half of students lost their virginity was just under 15 years.

Interestingly, graduates of abstinence-until-marriage programs were less likely to plan on abstaining until marriage. Forty-five percent of students who received comprehensive education expected to abstain until marriage, while only 40 percent of the other students expected they would do the same. Only 30 percent of graduates from one publicly funded program in Virginia planned to wait until marriage (56 percent said they'd wait until after high school.)

Supporters of abstinence-until-marriage education may be preaching, but teenagers aren't listening. Apparently, though, this doesn't matter to the Religious Right. On a recent conference call to discuss the findings, abstinence advocate Robert Rector reportedly told colleagues that what's "important is not [programs'] effectiveness, but rather the values that are being taught." Whether or not the program works is a "bogus issue," he said.